Before Him

“I see those laser beams,” he murmurs, sliding his hand through his caramel-toned locks. “I see them burning. For him.” He purses his lips, kind of, I win drowning out my response with the noise of the blender.

“Did you not watch me pour a glass of water over him yesterday?” I hiss in his ear. I cannot believe the nerve of him.

“Watch? I almost applauded,” he says once the blender quietens. “It was the best wet shirt scene since Colin Firth crawled out of that pond in his frilly shirt and britches. You know I like me some Colin.”

“Matthew did it better,” I retort, referring to Matthew McFadyen’s Mr Darcy over Jenner’s crush.

“He didn’t climb out of no pond.”

“No, but he looked pretty walking in the rain.”

“Not as hot as baby daddy wearing a glass of drinking water.”

“He is so . . .” My attention slides to Roman, a pit of something hot flaring inside me as our gazes meet. “Infuriating,” I add, dragging my attention away.

“Is that what we’re calling it these days.” His retort is more than a touch sardonic.

“Jenner, stop. Is he easy on the eyes? Yes. But is he the man for me? No. No, he is not.”

“Me thinks you protest way too much.”

“Ow!” I squawk as he punctuates protest with a poke to my arm. “That hurt.”

“It was meant to. Woman, you can’t see the nose on the end of your face.”

“You have to stop thinking this is going to end in a happy ever after because it won’t. I can’t be seduced by a pretty face.”

“His pretty face must be the reason you didn’t get an annulment, hmm?” As Grace approaches the counter, Jenner lets the topic slide. For now. “There you go, sugar.” He slides Grace’s smoothie across the counter. “One green tea smoothie made with extra love. Because it’s love that makes the world go round, isn’t that right?”

“I thought it rotates because of the earth’s moment of inertia,” Grace replies. Jenner sends her a confused look. I think I’m probably pulling the same face, for what it’s worth. “You know, like how mass maintains its state of motion unless force is involved?”

“Oh, honey, I was a theatre kid, not a science whiz.”

She gives a little shrug. “Let me put it this way, the Earth spins because it can’t stop.”

“Just like I can’t stop believing in love.” He sends me a superior look. “Shall I add that to your momma’s account?”

“She isn’t meeting you here?” I interject, pulling out a giant cookie and a water for Ethan.

“She’s baking,” she says with a shake of her head. “A birthday cake, those things take days, so I thought I’d get Ethan out of her hair for a while.”

“Speaking of good deeds, you still good for this evening?”

“Sure am. Seven, right?”

I agree seven is good, and she moves away.

“Laugh all you want,” Jenner says once she’s out of earshot, “but I believe in fate and all its glorious deliciousness. I believe in kismet, meant to be’s and true love’s first kiss.”

“This isn’t Disney.”

“I’m not finished. I also believe in true love’s first bang, and I don’t believe that man doesn’t know what he’s doing in the bedroom, not the way you look at him.”

“True love’s first bang?” I repeat, making it sound like I’m holding the idea at arm’s length.

“There is much to be said for compatibility in the bedroom. Now don’t you give me that look, it can’t all be about sex and chemistry, which you clearly have. But there’s something between you two.”

“Wilder.”

“Sure, but it’s more than him. There is something between you that I just can’t quantify. It’s in the way you look at each other, even when you’re throwing water at the man.”

“There you go, getting all Disney again.”

“Dammit, this might not be Disney, but you sold me the fairy tale. It even had the twist at the ending. And I know true love overcomes.”

“Incapacitates.”

“What?”

“It’s a synonym for overcome.” And a state I have no need of being in. Maybe something I fear being?

“Orgasm overload,” Jenner retorts immediately. “That’s what precedes over coming. Something you might be missing out on.”

“We’re gonna head out now if that’s okay?”

I turn to the sound of Roman’s deep cadence, his slightly unsure tone the only thing from stopping me feeling extreme embarrassment at what he might’ve overheard.

“Sure. Did you make plans?”

“Well, my trusty tour guide here.” He turns to Wilder, clasping his hand to his shoulder as Wilder drags his attention from his friend. “My trusty tour guide has run me through the local attractions—”

“That must’ve taken a whole five minutes,” Jenner interrupts in a droll tone.

“What’d you settle on?” I ask my son as he curls his fingers on the counter, resting his chin on the backs of his hands. This kid, he’s the cutest thing ever. Even with the smudge of chocolate his cheek is wearing.